


Payment Plan: Third Installment

by Indehed



Series: Bride Price [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Possessive Steve McGarrett
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indehed/pseuds/Indehed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whoever was at the wheel (most likely the person who was <i>always</i> at the wheel) was too busy looking about himself to concentrate on the road in front, but Danny knew the exact moment he'd been spotted, because the car practically leapt forward, the accelerator pressed down, roaring the car to life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Paulette for the beta and cheerleading :)

It wasn't exactly easy going. He kept checking behind himself all the way down the street until he turned the corner. He kept moving, keeping an eye out on his surroundings. He was more worried that strangers would see him and judge him for what he was doing. He shouldn't care, he really shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. There was a part of him that hated himself for running away like this. 

But then he got a knot in his stomach, his chest tightened at the thought that maybe he'd been manipulated by Steve and then he felt the anger bubble up again. It was a vicious cycle and at this point he was really sick of _**thinking**_.

A few streets later, he realized he didn't know where he was going. Or even where he was. He looked around himself, turning from side to side, looking for street signs or something to indicate he might have driven by here before but it distracted him and it was too late to hide when a familiar silver car could be seen coming around a bend in the street.

He froze. It was moving slowly. Whoever was at the wheel (most likely the person who was _always_ at the wheel) was too busy looking about himself to concentrate on the road in front, but Danny knew the exact moment he'd been spotted, because the car practically leapt forward, the accelerator pressed down, roaring the car to life.

In another spectacularly stupid moment, Danny did the first thing he could think of: he bolted. It was stupid because he was running down a sidewalk in his bare feet, his balance off because of his hand position. The car was catching up with ease considering how fast it could really go. When Danny realized this, he stopped dead in his tracks and the car screeched to a halt further in front of him. 

But as much as he was going on very little thought, he wasn't as dumb as it seemed, because he darted down a dirt path between two houses. Now they'd both be on foot, because there was no way the car could follow down what seemed to be a worn bike path. It was constricting on both sides: a straight shoot down between garages and fences, but the loose stones and dirt made it so Danny had to concentrate so as not to hurt himself or trip. 

He hadn't looked behind, but he'd heard the yells of his name and knew Steve was gaining on him. He stopped, turned, and just at the last minute plastered himself to a wall, dodging out of the way of a flying tackle he'd only ever seen Steve use on perps. 

Steve let out a growl as he landed on his stomach. His hands braced against the ground, he whipped his head in Danny's direction, eyes narrowing as he looked up at him.

"Wait, please…" Danny said, hands out placatingly, restlessly moving his weight from one leg to another. "Okay? Just please, don't do whatever it is you're thinking."

"What I'm thinking is that my husband ran out on me on our wedding day! What the hell, Danny?! The runaway bride act?!" Steve pushed up to his knees, his own once-clean suit pants and shirt now similarly stained with dirt.

"I am NOT Julia Roberts here, okay? And can I just say that movie was rife with inaccuracies. _RIFE_."

"What?" Steve asked, incredulous as to the turn in the conversation. 

"She made it look so easy to get out of these things!" Danny held his hands up, showing his bindings. He'd tried, he had. He'd twisted his wrists every which way but he couldn't get to the clasp. All he'd done was chafe them, his skin reddening in contrast to the shining gold of the cuffs where they were flush against him. 

Steve took a breath as he shuffled around on his knees to face Danny better. He seemed calmer as he spoke, but it was masking tension. "Danny. Please. Will you go get in the car. People are waiting."

"Oh yeah, sure, no problem, Steve, because I shimmied down a fucking tree for fun to kill some time, I didn't realize it had gotten so late."

"Oh my God, Danny. Can we argue about all the little details later? The Governor is in our back yard right now. Chin and Kamekona are stalling for us but I don't know how long they can hold out."

"Details? You think I'm upset over details?"

Steve reached out for Danny's hands but he jerked them back before he could touch him, taking a small step away. "Danny, I am trying here, I really am. I thought I'd put together something amazing, okay? People came out to support us, I got everything expedited, I've been on the phone with the bank and the lawyers… I told you I'd take care of everything and I have. Last night, on the couch, everything was fine. Happy. Ecstatic, even. What could possibly change overnight? I thought you were on board with this."

Danny scrubbed his hands over his face. He tilted his head from side to side a couple of times as he waged an internal war, remembering just how fine he'd been with things when he'd also thought that a certain Mister Jack Daniels deserved a medal and possibly Australia for creating his bourbon. 

"We got carried away. There were fantasy scenarios and a severe desire to screw the system discussed and…" Danny's shoulders deflated. "And you told me you loved me. You actually said all the right things, and that floored me." He lowered himself closer to Steve, cupping his face as best he could and smiled faintly. "You made me feel good about myself and the shit that's happened in my life. You actually made me think we could fix things."

Steve's hands lightly curled around Danny's wrists, over the binds. "And all that disappeared when you woke up?"

"No, but reality sunk in. There's no quick fixes in life, no matter how much you think your Navy SEAL training has prepared you for everything and I thought we were… I dunno what I thought we were doing."

"We were doing exactly what we wanted," Steve's adamant voice was punctuated with a tightening of his hands on Danny.

"In our own little fantasy world, maybe. But what you spun turned out to be a lot more real than I expected. When you phoned the Governor last night, I thought you were speaking to a dial tone. Hell, I didn't even think we were going to file the papers at all. Do you know how many times we put everything down on paper and then changed things before Rachel and I got married? We wanted to please her father, but at the same time, we wanted our marriage to be about us and not a contract. It was a fine line and it took us a good month to lock it down before finally, _finally_ , we took the papers to city hall. And in one night, _one night_ , you get us married."

"We still need to have the ceremony."

Danny dropped his hands, shaking off Steve's grip. "Like that bit even matters, it's just pageantry and an excuse to rack up a credit card bill. The legal documents are already through! They've been signed, witnessed, notarized, whatever."

"I still don't see the problem." Steve frowned at the withering look he got in response. Danny felt he'd explained himself just fine. One night was not acceptable for compromise. "Hear me out, Danny. You say we spun a fantasy that you were enjoying. So I made it real. Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that a _great_ thing? It's not like we left anything out, we spent ages considering everything, making sure we put in all we needed to and you said it yourself, it's a great deal. So it didn't take us weeks to figure it out, so what? Not every marriage has to take an army of lawyers to hash out the details and take our money. In fact, isn't it better that we did it like we did? It was fast, painless, it shows we're on the same page. It shows how perfect we are together."

"Alcohol, Steve. The bourbon made us a lot more agreeable."

"No, no no no. If you, if _we_ didn't want it as it is, we wouldn't have signed. Even drunk, you still have a level enough head for this kind of thing, I know you do." To Danny's mind, Steve was grasping at straws as he placed his hands on Danny's shoulders, trying to convince him. It felt like he would say anything to try and get Danny back on board, but he'd clearly convinced himself of his own arguments, too. It made it difficult to argue with him, when he convinced himself of what he wanted to hear. There was seldom an opportunity to talk Steve out of things. It never worked. 

"Steve-" Danny began.

"No," he was cut off. "Every argument you present, I'm just going to counter it. I know you. Maybe better than you know yourself at times and right now, you're scared of the change in your life, you're not scared of me, or of marriage to me. That's why I know we're doing the right thing."

"Maybe you're right. But it means I'm not ready." Danny's eyes took on a pleading edge again and he lifted his hands between them. "Please take these off."

"No," Steve shook his head. 

"Steve-"

"NO!" Steve growled, raising his voice as he pushed to his feet, pacing away then turning back, the veins in his neck straining with anger. He took two large steps back to Danny and forced him to his feet, pulling on his elbows and holding steady. "Stop this, stop making excuses. Stop telling me you don't want it when I know you do."

Steve shook Danny, making him lurch forward with the force. "Get your hands off me!"

"Get in the damn car!"

"Are you going to drag me there, huh? Pull me by my hair?"

"IF I HAVE TO!"

Danny twisted his body, loosening Steve's hold on his elbow enough so he could shove a shoulder against him, trying to make him back off, but it just made Steve yank his other arm back and around so that he could grip him under his arm pits and begin to move him back along the track towards the street. 

Danny dug his heels in. "No. Steve. Ste- wha… Steven!"

He could do very little with his hands, his back was to Steve, his shoulders pressed to his chest as Steve held tight. He struggled against him as Steve got the upper hand and marched him as best he could back the way they'd come. Eventually he kicked out, his foot impacting with Steve's knee making him buckle and Danny finally was able to twist further and he brought his fists up as one to get a good right hook in against Steve's jaw.

Everything slowed as he watched Steve recover from the blow, his hand going to his jaw to check the damage but he didn't reach out for Danny again. 

As they stood there, breathing heavily, their eyes met in disbelief.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have…"

"I don't… I mean you…" Danny gestured back to the car with his bound hands. "Steve, please. Just… you can't just expect me to do what you want."

"You want it, too."

"Part of me. Maybe. Okay. But I need to process things and you're not giving me that chance."

"What's to process? You. Me. Married. That's it, that's all there is to it."

"You're doing a fabulous job of skirting over the contract." Which, as Danny kept trying to point out, was the elephant in the room that was causing them problems. There was a difference in beliefs here and both of them were struggling to overcome it. Danny felt uncomfortable with the marriage laws. He always had. His parents had always had a very good, very fair deal. At least, as far as they were concerned. He'd watched his two older sisters make a point of holding their husbands to higher ideals than money and power, and when one of those guys turned out to be a complete douche that reneged on his part of the bargain, she'd had no problem in getting divorced without feeling like a failure and without landing herself in a pile of debt and worry. And he'd had the same with Rachel. Sure, it had broken his heart when they'd divorced so that Stanley could buy out their contract, but it made things easier that they'd put together solid provisions. It took the stress away and left them with only the emotional baggage to deal with.

Steve was the opposite. He'd seen low deals work against him, leaving him without a mother during impressionable teenage years and as such, had begun to develop this desire to lock down the person he chose to marry so that it wouldn't happen to him. He didn't want to repeat his father's mistake. And with his father sending him away to the mainland after he'd fallen apart at the loss of his wife, Steve had never seen him go through a recovery. All he'd ever seen was that the marriage had broken his father and, at least to him, his father remained as broken up as the family unit from then until his murder. Because of that, his abandonment issues were as overdeveloped as his control freak tendencies. Years spent in military service had honed them, as well as his problem-solving skills and his knack for going in guns blazing. Gut instinct and intelligence collided to make him so sure in his movements that nothing could dissuade him when he thought he was right. And at the moment, he was convinced of his rightness. He didn't realize he was railroading Danny, except in flashes that Danny could see in his eyes, where there was a conflict inside Steve, asking himself why his perfect scenario wasn't going to plan. 

"Can't you just look at the contract differently?"

"Because changing my mind on something is just that simple," Danny argued back, his hands still twisting in their bindings as he talked with his hands as much as his mouth, making the chafing worse and he could already feel a little wetness as they rubbed. He hadn't looked down, but he was convinced the skin had now broken.

"No, just…" Steve sighed and shook his head. "Danny, I have never had to work this hard at getting you to see where I'm coming from."

"This is different and you know it. This isn't using a shark cage to scare a perp, or telling a guy he's on the edge of a cliff when really he's three feet off the ground. Because those things were over in a matter of minutes. Done, dusted and in the end, no one really got hurt beyond the lack of proper procedure. But this is a big deal, Steve. This is our future, our lives. This is a map to how we'll be for maybe the next fifty or more years. And you're telling me that you've got it all under control, that something we developed while drunk one night is the best we're ever going to come up with? Do you even hear how insane that is?"

Steve tilted his head, his eyes rolling up as he actually took moment to think. "Fine. I get it. When you put it like that, I see where you're coming from."

"Finally!" Danny let out a breath and what felt like an insane amount of tension from his body, turning himself a way for a moment. 

"But," and the tension returned. "We've known each other for over two years; we've shared so much in that time. I know I have your best interests at heart, Grace's… I don't know how many times I've told you this in the last 24 hours, but seriously… the deal we struck? I got off lightly, because I'd have added a load more clauses that gave you even more."

"Yeah," Danny nodded vigorously, fully intending to turn Steve's words against him. They may seem romantic and chivalrous, but there was a sinister side to them that Steve did a piss poor job of hiding. "Yeah, I know… and if we get divorced it puts me so far up shit creek that not having a paddle would be the very least of my problems."

"We're not getting divorced."

"Because you wrote so much into our contract that it's made it impossible!" Danny yelled, and he could swear it was loud enough to cause an echo in the back alley they were still standing in; hoping the houses around weren't getting a good show right now.

Steve gave a slow nod. There was no denying certain motivations he held. "It wouldn't stop you entirely but yes it's made it difficult. But that goes for me too, I'd be liable for a hell of a lot should it be me at fault."

"Not as much as me," Danny warned. "I'm the secondary on the contract, you're the primary. You devised it, that gives you the control." He held up his hands again, offering them as proof. "I'm the one in the binds, not you."

"So what you're saying is, you trust me to have your back in a gun fight, where our lives are on the line. You trust me to take control of a situation, say, stranded in a dinghy at sea where you might be panicking, for example. But you don't trust me in this?"

"It's different," Danny said, trying desperately not to give in to Steve's point because, yeah, okay, he could see validity in it. 

"Our lives were at stake, that's not more important than who gets what or who has to give what in a far-flung, highly unlikely divorce?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying that in certain circumstances we play to strength. I told you why I don't like the water, and you're a freaking Navy SEAL. There's a reason that you get to take charge when we're at sea."

"And when you're panicking about something," Steve said. 

"Exactly." Danny agreed, recognizing Steve's 'upper hand' face for what it was too late.

"Just like right now."

"I-" Danny spluttered. He was not panicking right now. 

"You're not panicking? So running away like you just did, that wasn't panicking?"

"Onl- Only a little bit," Danny admitted. He was self-aware enough to know that climbing out onto the roof and then down a tree while cuffed and barefoot was a pretty huge amount of panicking and not facing up to the issues, but it had been all he could think to do in the moment and he couldn't bring himself to wholly regret it. Because it led to now, it led to what might turn out to be a helpful conversation. If he hadn't, he knew that right now he'd be in the backyard, surrounded by their friends and still in some form of shell shock. 

Steve reached out and took Danny's head in both of his hands, pulling in to press his lips to Danny's forehead. "Then trust me now, please. Let me take care of it and you'll see, we'll get through everything fine."

Danny allowed himself a moment to sink into Steve's hold. Last night they told each other how they felt, that 'love' was involved and it had the potential to be pretty damn epic. They'd kissed for the first time, giving into the need to do so. They'd tussled on the couch, groping and fondling but there had been very little nudity involved apart from the loss of their shirts. They'd yet to have sex, a drunken Steve saying that if they got married the next day then they could be completely old-fashioned and wait until then. 

Despite the lack of sex, of any actual relationship beyond a flirty friendship and a partnership laced with sexual desire, the touches they had shared in the past were always calming, soothing. They gave each of them a moment of peace inside and right now Danny craved that kind of relaxation more than anything else. His stress levels had been amped up all morning. It didn't matter that Steve was the source of it all, he allowed himself this moment in his arms because he needed it. 

His hands curled into the fabric of Steve's shirt where they were crammed between their bodies. Steve's arms wrapped around his shoulders and smoothed over his upper back as he turned his head into Steve's neck and breathed deeply. 

As with everything involving Steve, it was met with both warmth and trepidation. He shouldn't allow himself these moments and yet he was drawn to them and felt that if he didn't allow them, then he'd regret it and the unfulfilled desire would be worse than the aftermath.

"I'm not going to force you to do anything, Danny, but you need to think of the big picture right now. The papers have gone through, they can't be stopped. In the eyes of the law we're already married. We've got a bunch of people back at the house waiting for us to perform the ceremony and this part is important to Hawaiians. Think about what might happen if we don't follow through. The attitude from the locals, from HPD. It could make things difficult for us at work. And you know what kids are like, how they can tease without understanding. We don't want Grace to go through anything all because you had doubts."

Danny stayed tucked in Steve's arms. He knew what Steve was doing, and his mind was letting him do it. How he was saying these things, the way he was doing it, and how pointed he was being. It all appealed to Danny's own protective nature for the people he cared about. He didn't want anything he did to fall on Grace, nor did he want any of his actions to backfire on Five-0 and their friends. He always made a point of owning his mistakes.

But goddamn the manipulative bastard for using it against him. 

He pulled back enough to look up at Steve. "All that because we don't do the ceremony?"

"That and wanting to break the contract. Especially after having it expedited. People talk, you know. Everyone would know before we got back to work on Monday. We'd be ridiculed and shunned. Both of us. All because we quibbled over the bullet points."

Danny's heart beat wildly in his chest with worry, frustration, muted anger and something else he couldn't quite place when he saw the look in Steve's eyes. 

"You know exactly what you're doing, don't you?" His eyes narrowed as he was answered with a crooked, smug smile. "You're still in control; you're still acting like you're getting everything you want."

"I am. You're seeing it my way, like I knew you would."

"We're not done, Steven," Danny warned, though there was less bite to his words than before.

"No, we're not. But right now, we have a wedding to get to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more to come! still writing away....


End file.
